A NICOSIA Criminal Court will on December 20 decide the fate of a former ambassador, accused of sexually assaulting tow of his secretaries during his term in office in Sweden between 2002 and 2005.
Former Cypriot Ambassador to Sweden Costas Papadimas faces multiple charges of sexual harassment against his two secretaries, Greek nationals Alexandra Zioga and Sofia Raptidou, during his term in Stockholm.
Yesterday was the final day of the trial with the three panel judges to make their final decision on December 20.
Yesterday also saw the summing up by State Prosecutor Christina Kythreotou.
“In its summing up, the defence weighed much upon the way in which Alexandra Zioga reacted to the defendant’s harassment, describing the way in which she reacted as illogical,” said Kythreotou.
“I would ask the defence to explain to the court the specific way in which a sexual harassment victim is meant to react.”
Zioga had told the court she did not report the incident and carried on as normal at work because she “wanted to protect the Ambassador’s wife and family”, who would have been disgraced had she have reported him.
She later reported the Ambassador to Cypriot police, according to her statement, because she had become enraged upon learning that Raptidou, who is also her good friend, was also being sexually harassed by Papadimas.
Papadimas denies the charges, with his lawyer Efstathios Efstathiou accusing 35-year-old Zioga of exacting revenge on him because he would not leave his wife and two children for her. Efstathiou accused Zioga, who he says was “infatuated with the Ambassador”, of conspiring with diplomat Andreas Kettis, her fianc? Demetris Vasiliou and Raptidou, in an effort to “destroy the Ambassador”.
With regards to the reason behind Kettis’ involvement in the “conspiracy”, Papadimas claims that Kettis, who is still stationed at the Embassy in Sweden, helped Raptidou and Zioga engineer the accusations following an argument he had with the Ambassador’s wife over who should have the right to the Embassy car when the Ambassador is out of the country.
The 29-year-old diplomat is said to have been worried that Papadimas would file a report against him because of the row he had with his wife.
Zioga claims the 55-year-old diplomat had systematically harassed her, pinning her into a corner and kissing her, masturbating in front of her, groping her, and forcing himself in her face as she was sitting down in front of him during a dictation session.
Raptidou also spoke of harassment by the Ambassador although not to the extent allegedly suffered by Zioga.
“With regards to Sofia Raptidou, she had never reported anything because she was scared that nobody would believe her. She could also not confide in her sister because she was pregnant, nor her father who was very ill at the time and has since passed away,” the prosecutor added.
